'Hope Trott is back soon' - Warner

David Warner has offered his sympathy to Jonathan Trott and said he hopes the England batsman, who left the Ashes tour with a stress-related illness, recovers soon. Warner was criticised by Alastair Cook and Andy Flower for comments made about Trott during the first Test - although England were clear they did not contribute to Trott's decision - and the Australia opener accepted that he "did go over the line a little bit".

Warner described Trott's dismissal in the second innings at the Gabba as "pretty poor and pretty weak", as Australia ramped up the aggression in pursuit of victory. A crushing, 381-run win was duly wrapped up and England suffered a further blow in their bid to retain the Ashes with the news the following day that they would be without No. 3-batsman Trott for the rest of the campaign.

Several members of the Australia camp have subsequently declared that they plan to continue coming hard at England verbally but Warner took a step back from hostilities to voice support for Trott.

"We didn't know anything about an illness or what not," Warner told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It's sad to see anyone go through that tough period and obviously if he's got an illness that's there we hope he gets the right people to help him out.

"We know the world-class kind of batter he is: he averages 50 in Test cricket and he has been a great player, a rock for England. I wish him all the best and I know our team wishes him all the best. I hope he gets well soon and [is back] playing the best cricket he can."

Flower said at a press conference on Monday that Trott had been managing his condition for as long as he had known him and Hugh Morris, England's managing director, stressed the player's return home was "not down to any particular incident over the last few days". Flower did say, however, that Warner had "overstepped the line", while Cook called the comments "disrespectful" after England's defeat on the fourth day. Warner had previously acknowledged going too far, before the announcement about Trott's departure, and he reiterated those sentiments.

"I was always going to cop criticism, no matter what, from what I said," Warner said. "As I said before, I probably stepped over that line and at the end of the day it's cricket. We've got to go out there and play the best we can and as hard as we can without crossing that line.

"Going into public and saying what I did probably did go over the line a little bit. Obviously it's unfortunate that [Trott] has gone home now. I hope he gets well because we know the type of player he is and he will bounce back from it."

Warner's attempt to smooth over the issue comes after former Australia captain Steve Waugh labelled him "out of order" for the attack on Trott. Interviewed on the Sydney Cricket Ground website, Waugh, a famously tough on-field competitor, said that Australia may need to temper their confrontational approach and let their cricket do the talking for them.

"I think Dave Warner's comments were out of order," Waugh said. "I don't believe you should comment on someone else personally on the opposition. He can make a generic comment, but I think when you get personal like that, you cross the line on how players treat each other, and the respect they should have.

"So I didn't agree with Dave's comments, having said that, he probably did smell a bit of fear in the England opposition players. Unfortunately for Jonathan Trott, it was a personal issue, and you don't want to keep going on about that. You just want him to get better and get well. So I think that hopefully has been put behind in that last Test match, and won't be brought up again.

"I think Australia probably need to be a little bit more clever about the way they're going about things. They're playing well, so they don't need to do so much talking out there now."